2005-10-12

Katrina und die Welle der Desinformation

One thing can be said for certain about what it was like in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina roared through: Much of what was reported as fact by government officials and the media during the chaotic first week afterward turned out to be fiction. Myths and misinformation multiplied, from how many people died to what conditions were really like inside the Louisiana Superdome. “If you don't have accurate information … you could be making bad decisions and just creating the next disaster,” says Ken Murphy, director of Oregon's Office of Emergency Management and a director at the National Emergency Management Association. Katrina, which hit the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29, generated a number of false reports. Among them:

•The death toll. Mayor Ray Nagin warned the city's toll could reach 10,000 dead, a figure repeated often in news accounts. As of last week Louisiana had confirmed 1,003 Katrina-related deaths in the entire state.

•Lawlessness. City officials, police and others said they were told of crime sprees at the Superdome and Ernest P. Morial Convention Center, where tens of thousands of people had taken shelter. The reports put the Bush administration on the defensive and sparked a massive movement of troops to the city. But an investigation by The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune found no evidence to support claims that babies were raped and armed gangs were on a murderous rampage in either place.

•Draining the city. Federal officials said it would take three months to drain the city. Six weeks later, New Orleans is largely dry.

Mega-Trucks rollen auf Bagdad zu: Honkin' Big Trucks Head to Iraq. Prehistoric on the outside, Space Age on the inside. That's how U.S. defense contractor Force Protection describes its heavily armored Buffalo and Cougar trucks, which are being rushed into service in Iraq and Afghanistan.